Keywords Search (e.g. housing advice)

Just typing in a few words into the search box brings you back all entries that contain at least one of the words you have entered. You can also use special characters to limit your results more closely. The plus sign (+) before a word means that each of the results must contain that word, so the example search below brings back all results containing both of the words housing and advice.

+housing +advice

Using double quotes (") around your search words brings back only results that contain those words as an exact phrase, for example:

"badminton club"

Search by place name (e.g. Dorchester)

Entering a place name in the box marked 'Located in' will bring back results of services based in and around that location.

Search by postcode (e.g. DT1 1XJ)

Entering a full postcode in the box marked 'Located in' will bring back results in order of closeness to that postcode. This is really useful for finding services located close to your home.

Search by part postcode (e.g. DT1)

Entering a the first part of a postcode (such as DT1) in the box marked 'Located in' will bring back a list of services and activities located in your postcode area.

Refine search using filters

Once you have your search results, you may be able to improve them still further by selecting one or more of the search filters which are displayed in lists to the left of your results. These filters allow you to limit results by subject area (such as 'Schools and Academies'), and by further filters (such as 'Age Group') and so on. The more use you make of the filters, the more focussed your results will be.

Sorting your search results

You can change the sort order of your search results using the options that are shown in the section just above your results. Depending on the type of search that you have done, your results can appear in any of the following sort orders: